How to Drive a FORD Fusion Hybrid to get Great Gas Mileage

[Waldo]

How would a tuner improve fuel economy? Are you thinking some guy with a tuning shop can come up with a better solution than all the engineers at Ford who have all the resources and experience? Now there's probably some opportunity if you wanted to compromise things thing durability, emissions, battery life or maybe even NVH (let the engine lug more), but I can't imagine there's much of a market for that.

Edited May 16, 2017 by Waldo

[ptjones]

How would a tuner improve fuel economy? Are you thinking some guy with a tuning shop can come up with a better solution than all the engineers at Ford who have all the resources and experience? Now there's probably some opportunity if you wanted to compromise things thing durability, emissions, battery life or maybe even NVH (let the engine lug more), but I can't imagine there's much of a market for that.

I talked to HyperTech and said they thought it would be to complicated with all the Hybrid Systems. Tuners improve Performance and Fuel Economy for lots of vehicles or Hypertech and others would be out in business. My personal experience is with 2006 FORD F250 PowerStroke, I was getting upto 21.5 mpg on HWY and upto 16mpg towing car hauling trailer. That was a great truck, I hated selling it. ;(

 

Paul

Edited May 16, 2017 by ptjones

[Waldo]

Anyone can tune a diesel to get more power and fuel economy if they don't have to worry about emissions. Just ask Volkswagen...

[ptjones]

Even FORD makes upgrades to their own FORD Cars so they know they can do better than stock. :) FORD makes cars to make money, not the best cars they can. When they make a New Car they start with a price point, so when they design the car and manufacture it, it needs to be under that price point or they don't make money. ;(

2015-2017 MUSTANG GT PERFORMANCE CALIBRATION POWER PACK 1

Link: https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-9603-M8

 

My videos show what FORD could have done to improve Fuel Economy and didn't. Other than the ECM update in July of 2013, FORD hasn't done anything to improve FE and the information I have in the videos was on the Forums since December 2012. :drop: It would have been nice if FORD would have kept improving the Hybrids. IMO :)

Paul

[stlouisgeorge]

Where is your video? You should add the link in your signature!

[ptjones]

Where is your video? You should add the link in your signature!

The videos are on Post #1. I will try to figure out how to do that. Thanks :)

 

Paul

[ptjones]

With warmer temps (80-90*F) speeds 40-55 mph and a bike on the back half the time, I'm getting 60.5mpg, with 230 miles on this tank. Using the info from these videos you should expect similar MPG's.

 

Videos: http://fordfusionhybridforum.com/topic/11745-how-to-drive-a-ford-fusion-hybrid-to-get-great-gas-mileage/

 

Paul

[ptjones]

YouTube Video views are up to 548 and between three FORD CMAX/FFH Forums we are up to 3280 views. :) Current tank at 59.4 mpg at 411 miles, looking like I'll reach 800 miles on this tank. :) Has anyone been using this technique seen an improvement in mpg's?

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Just filled up my tank, actual 59.9 mpg,826 mi. and 13.8 gal. So about 50% HWY with 2- 100 mi. trips on I-85/I-285 and about 30% of the time with bike on bike rack.

This is just an idea of what can be done now with all the tips from the YouTube videos and warmer temps.

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Just got back from Lighthouse trip to Virginia Coast and figured out a strategy for keeping WT up when using A/C. I turn the A/C on going uphill when I need the ICE and turn the A/C button off going down hill, still leave fan on in recirculate. This turns off the Radiator fan when the ICE isn't creating heat and keeps WT higher, I was seeing 170's *F WT with A/C on all the time with center Grill Cover and partial Grill Cover on and OT around 90*F.

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Filled up after our Lighthouse looking trip to VA and got 53.37 mpg with A/C use at 40%. I think when I got back I was 50 mpg at about 10 gal. used, the rest of the tank was driven at slower speeds so tank average ended up 53.37 mpg. The good news was my Fuelly average went up to 47.9 mpg. So even with 157k miles, my average keeps going up. I went to the Quick Trip Station, because they had Ethanol Free for $.02 more than Premium. Unfortunately it is only 87 Octane and Premium is 93 so at best I would get the same as Premium MPG's and maybe less so I stuck with Premium for this time. I did add a bottle of NOS Octane Booster which cleans the Injectors and adds 2 Octane to the gas. Pretty quick my MPG's went up 3 mpg's to around 59 mpg's from 56 mpg's.

Up to 675 views of my videos now.

Paul

[Texasota]

The cheapest price I see for that NOS Octane Booster is $9.77 at Walmart. I can buy 4.45 gallons of gas for the cost of that snake oil which would allow me to drive around 200 miles. Assuming you poured it all into you 12.5 gallon tank and really got a 3 MPG improvement, then you got about another 37.5 miles for the money you spent. Why would any clear thinking person want to do that?

Edited June 14, 2017 by Texasota

[Waldo]

Yea, spend $10 to save $2. I don't get that math either.

QT is a top-tier gasoline provider, so it already contains injector cleaner.

[ptjones]

The cheapest price I see for that NOS Octane Booster is $9.77 at Walmart. I can buy 4.45 gallons of gas for the cost of that snake oil which would allow me to drive around 200 miles. Assuming you poured it all into you 12.5 gallon tank and really got a 3 MPG improvement, then you got about another 37.5 miles for the money you spent. Why would any clear thinking person want to do that?

 

Yea, spend $10 to save $2. I don't get that math either.

QT is a top-tier gasoline provider, so it already contains injector cleaner.

Well apparently not enough and you're getting 60 mpg too? :) Don't knock it till you have tried it. :shift:

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Just checked My YouTube and I'm upto 1270 views on the three CMAX/FFH Videos now. Drove into Atlanta and back today on I-85/I-20 about 100mi., averaged 60.5 mpg's, everything is working great at 157k mi.

Paul

[ptjones]

I can't believe it, someone gave me a dislike for my MODs video and no comment, Really! What's not to like, LOL 1448 views now.

 

Paul

[Vlad Soare]

What's the most efficient way to use the regenerative brakes? Start decelerating very early on and try to touch the brake pedal as little as possible? Or brake later and a little harder (but not hard enough to engage the friction brakes)? The brake coach shows 100% in both cases, but I'm not sure whether the amount of recovered energy is really the same. I suspect it isn't.

[ptjones]

What's the most efficient way to use the regenerative brakes? Start decelerating very early on and try to touch the brake pedal as little as possible? Or brake later and a little harder (but not hard enough to engage the friction brakes)? The brake coach shows 100% in both cases, but I'm not sure whether the amount of recovered energy is really the same. I suspect it isn't.

My guess is the more time you take to charge the HVB for the same amount of energy the less heat is created and the more efficient the charge. IMO :) Traffic usually determines how quickly you stop. ;( I try to time my braking for stop lights so I'm still moving when light turns green. :)

 

Paul

[Vlad Soare]

My guess is the more time you take to charge the HVB for the same amount of energy the less heat is created and the more efficient the charge.

 

Indeed, but is it really the same amount of energy? Provided the friction brakes don't engage, the car loses speed because of two things: the generator, and rolling friction. Longer rolling distances mean more friction between tires and road, which is wasted energy, so overall there should be less energy left for the generator to recover.

But that's just a guess. I'm not sure I'm right. And even if I were right, I'm not sure what's more significant - losses due to friction, or losses due to heat in the battery.

[ptjones]

To add one more variable the temp of the HVB controls the output of the HVB. I see this happen when I use Neutral to coast instead of regen going down hill. I will see 2 Bars EV power which I don't normally see using Drive regen . :)

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Just checked and my videos are up to 1700 views now. Was hoping to see an improvement on Fuelly.com , even with the rain I have managed 59.6 mpg's, down from 60.8mpg with 600 miles on tank. Could hit 800mi.​

 

Paul

[ptjones]

I filled up today and ended up with actual 58.4mpg( Smart Gauge59.4mpg) 13.5gal., 788.3miles even with rain and bike on back part of the time. Cleaning my injectors helped a couple mpg it would appear. :)

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Yesterday was just another reminder of how using A/C on short trips can hurt your MPG's. Drove into town about 5 mi. with the A/C on, it was 88*F/ 90% humidity and my Wife doesn't do well with those kinds of conditions without A/C on. On the trip back to work I noticed I only got 38mpg and my average had dropped from 58.2mpg to 56.5mpg. I think we'll take my Wife's car today. The total number of views for video's is up to 1862 now.

 

Paul

[ptjones]

Well it has taken 5 days to get my average on this tank back up to 58.2 mpg with 282 mi. on tank, although I did use a little A/C yesterday with my Wife in the car. YouTube video views up to 1944.

Paul

[lolder]

After 8 years of 2010 FFH ownership in SW FL, I said the heck with it. On hot days, when I go out for lunch, I just leave the car and AC on and locked. It costs 20 cents an hour. The lunch bill for two is usually $25. This is luxury !